I clenched my teeth.
“Becca…”
“What?” she finally snapped, setting the full force of her stare on me, strong enough to damn near knock me off my feet. “What the hell do you want me to say, Kaleb? And why the fuck aren’t you just as freaked out as I am?”
I frowned. “It’s not the same thing. Finding out your dad isn’t your dad isn’t the same as finding out your dad has another kid. It’s a fuckin’ trip, but it’s not the same thing.”
Her eyes about bugged out of her head, and I pretty quickly gathered I was missing something here.
“You’re right,” she hissed loudly before lowering her voice, leaning in like she was afraid someone else might hear us. “It’s not the same thing, and that shit would’ve been bad enough. But finding out you also…”
She grit her teeth, turning that sickly green again.
“Also what?”
“Finding out you also fucked both your brothers is a whole other level of fucked up.”
“Stepbrothers,” I corrected her. “I mean, sure, it’s a little taboo, but that’s not the same thing.”
“What?”
Her eyes went wide and round, and I wanted to kick myself for not figuring out where her head was earlier. How could she think…? Oh dear god.
“Wait a sec,” I said, inclining my head to her, feeling a twist in my own stomach at the thought. “You didn’t think…”
She shook her head, blinking, confused.
Shit. Fuck. Balls.
“Becca, we are not related.”
“But Damien—”
“Is our father in every way that counts… but not by blood. Think about it, we’re, what? Three, four years older than you? How would that even be possible? He didn’t even know Ma back then. I was eleven when they met. Hardin was twelve. When Damien and Ma got married, we took his last name, too.”
“And your old man was okay with that?”
That was what she decided to focus on right now?
The mere mention of my sperm donor made a weight settle in my gut. “He didn’t have much say seeing as we buried his ass out in the canyons.”
Her lips parted in surprise at the admission, but she said nothing, just stared up at me silently until finally, it all sunk in. Her chin quivered, and her eyes went glassy. “So, we’re not related? At all? Like, not even a little bit?”
“No, baby girl. Not at all.”
I pulled her into my chest, holding her tight against me, feeling like an idiot for not coming to her sooner. I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head all night, thinking that she…
Jesus.
I didn’t even care that she full on admitted to fucking my brother right now. I just wanted her to stop shaking like a leaf in my arms. I pressed a kiss to her hair and rubbed hard circles in her back as she came to terms with all the new information. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve realized you would think that.”
She shook her head against my chest, pulling back, but not away, just far enough so she could look up at me with those piercing hazel eyes of hers. “I’ve been in hell for the last twenty-four hours, Kaleb.”
I couldn’t help smirking, dropping my hand to her waist to squeeze tight. “Then let me take you back to heaven where you belong.”
“Oh god.” She snorted, teasing me for the line that was so cheesy I was surprised she didn’t offer me wine and crackers to go with it.
I crashed my mouth onto hers, swallowing her laughter, loving how I could turn it into a moan at the drop of a dime.